The GNU should consult all parties

THE government of national unity (GNU) represents 72% of the votes cast in May. Therefore, it's not really necessary for President Cyril Ramaphosa's government to enter into agreements with the EFF and the MKP in the National Assembly. If you're relieved about this, it's because you're willing, as the ANC was for 30 years, to suspend democratic values when the system benefits you.

I find the complacent chorus of Ramaphosa's cabinet somewhat reassuring, but also disturbing. The ideal is that the GNU should still consult other parties, regardless of their ideological underpinnings, before legislation is sent to the president for signing.

Opposition parties and South Africans who demonise the EFF and the MKP are doing democracy no favours. These two parties represent a quarter of the people who showed up at the polls on May 29. It is still crucial that the GNU is exposed to the critical oversight of the EFF and the MKP in the committees of parliament, and that these parties retain the ability to influence legislation.

MKP parliamentary leader John Hlophe's argument in the National Assembly last week that Ramaphosa's office has grown exponentially and worryingly over the past five years — without having the legal obligation to appear before portfolio committees for oversight purposes — is valid. The fact that Hlophe is a former judge lends weight to his interpretation of this reality and the likelihood that this evil is contrary to the constitution.

Think for yourself. The South African Investment Conference, the Presidential Climate Commission and the National Planning Commission are all based in the presidency. So, too, are the Government Communication and Information System, the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention and Operation Vulindlela. The president's office also controls the Ministry for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and the State Security Agency.

All these entities function from the Union Buildings and do not report directly to parliamentary committees. This is a massive concentration of power away from the blinding light of parliamentary oversight, but also away from public opinion.

The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces are divided into a smorgasbord of committees in which members of the government are supposed to engage in a battle of ideas with opposition parties. The ultimate goal is to reach the most representative compromises.

Since 1994, this aspiration has been merely theoretical. For 30 years, the ANC has seen absolute majorities at the ballot box as a mandate to establish a monopoly of power in the state and the economy. Without a fight, the sycophantic parliamentarians of the ANC accommodated the corruption of Luthuli House and the cabinet.

The result of insufficient accountability is outlined in the final report of the Zondo commission's investigation into state capture. Internationally, the judgment of inadequate oversight is set out in the evaluation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which led to South Africa being placed on a grey list for countries where money laundering occurs systemically. The FATF identifies South Africa as a jurisdiction where the financing of international terrorism can flourish unnoticed.

This past week, two individuals were added by the Americans to a sanctions list of businesses and characters suspected of mediating and financing international terrorism. The capacity of the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks to do what is necessary to remove South Africa from the grey list remains lacking. The same shortcomings also leave a trail of blood in our crime statistics and the decay of social order.

Excessive sense of power

All of this is the result of the ANC's absolute majorities since 1994, the excessive sense of power at Luthuli House, but more importantly, the ineffectiveness of legislators in fulfilling their constitutional obligation to promote the public interest and hold the executive accountable. One  expectation of the GNU is that the ANC's monopoly on power will be broken and the supremacy of the constitution will be restored. But also that the ANC's partners in the GNU will not fail to honour the importance of oversight in legislatures.

This does not mean the DA and other minority parties have not done what they could in the past within the constraints of the ANC's absolute majority. However, it is also a reality that since 1994, the best oversight and enforcement of accountability has come from  investigative journalists. AmaBhungane's Centre for Investigative Journalism, Daily Maverick's Scorpio unit, News24 Investigations, the Mail & Guardian and even M-Net's Carte Blanche have given the government's political misconduct and abuse of state coffers all the exposure the public and the constitution could ask for.

Non-government bodies such as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, the Public Service Accountability Monitor, Right2Know Campaign, Open Secrets, Transparency International South Africa and Corruption Watch have stepped into the breach for our democracy with incriminating investigations and reports that have had tremendous consequences for Luthuli House and the ANC's patronage system.

It's easy to get the impression that the splintering of the EFF and the MKP led to the ANC finally losing a national election. However, it is the millions of South Africans who were historically loyal to the ANC but stayed at home on May 29 that made the GNU possible. There are good reasons to think that poor and corrupt governance and the violence of our crime rates led them to turn their backs on the ANC by staying away from the ballot box.

The fact that the ANC lost its absolute majority and therefore should no longer constitute more than 40% of the members of parliamentary committees removes at least one destructive variable from the equation; the ANC will have to compromise with its partners in the GNU and can no longer steamroll laws through parliament.

The best example of the ANC's realisation that policy and legislation will henceforth be the result of compromises came in Ramaphosa's speech at the opening of parliament. The president said: “While there is much contestation around [National Health Insurance], there is broad agreement that we must draw on the resources and capabilities of both the public and private sectors to meet the health care needs of all South Africans equally. In implementing the NHI, we are confident that we will be able to bring stakeholders together, and that we will be able to resolve differences and clarify misunderstandings."

The future of the National Health Insurance Act is clearly bound to a process of renewed negotiation with the private sector or medical funds. The high court in Pretoria declared articles 36 and 40 of the act unconstitutional last week. This gives health minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Ramaphosa the opportunity to reconsider it in the context of the GNU. Hopefully, these types of compromises will be the result of competitive discussions rather than ideological agreements. In a sense, the necessity of compromises is already a form of accountable oversight that should promote better governance.

A professional civil service

Regarding the civil service, it appears the GNU has suspended the liberation philosophy of cadre deployment. The practice will probably still flourish in some state enterprises, but in the bureaucracy Ramaphosa has made it clear that the GNU envisions a professional civil service: “We will proceed with the work already under way to professionalise the public service, ensuring that we attract into the state people with skills, capabilities and integrity. We will continue to fight corruption and prevent undue political interference in the administration of the state." The key concept in the last sentence is “political interference", with specific reference to Deputy President Paul Mashatile's cadre deployment committee at Luthuli House.

A bright spot in terms of oversight is Rise Mzansi's Songezo Zibi, who has been appointed as the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa). Zibi is a former editor of Business Day, and the expectation is that he will approach the responsibility of scrutinising the state's financial management with informed seriousness. His student years as a member of the PAC and Azapo are long forgotten. This standing committee can hold government officials, including ministers and heads of departments, accountable for financial management and expenditure.

Zibi's party is also part of the GNU, and in the past this position was usually held by a member of an opposition party. I'm not entirely convinced it's good and right for him to be the chairperson of Scopa and part of the GNU. Deep down, I wonder if the Scopa chair shouldn't have gone to the EFF. The GNU's harmony and consensus must be held accountable.

There is little doubt that for almost 30 years, the ANC abused its absolute majority in legislatures to avoid constitutional oversight. Sometimes there were attempts to make ideologically motivated amendments to the constitution. Think of the ANC and the EFF's unsuccessful attempt to amend Article 25.

But the outstanding feature of the first six parliaments was the ANC's undermining of democracy by, as a rule, not holding the executive accountable. For three decades, the cabinet, or rather the president of the governing party and the country, reported to Luthuli House. My fear is that inadequate oversight and lack of accountability could also rear their heads in the new form of a GNU.

♦ VWB ♦

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